[Cob] lime mortar for Bathroom / kitchen tile in a cob house

Sat Jan 27 16:41:23 CST 2007

  THis is the shower at Emerald Earth,  and  have to admit I totally 
fell in love with it when the Natural Buiding colloquim as held there 2 
summers ago.

The BEST part about the artwork tile shower  is having to traverse the 
length of the greenhouse to get to the shower. So they did an amazing 
job of putting the shower in a place where the plants get the advantage 
of the steam and moisture, and the beauty of nature for the humans too! 
  a pallet wood deck to dry off and walk on was used, and simple screen 
are puled into place to allow privacy.

  But there was a problem with cob mortar, and a leak was found going 
thru to the sauna room behind it. They MAY hav used cement to  embed 
the tile, I can't recall.

So a natural LIME plaster would be perfect over the cob walls, and 
avoids use of cement, and provides a better mortar and protection for 
the clay walls.

Lime has been used for millinea to embed tiles, so it is a good choice 
for cob/earth use too, and sticks better than cement, especially f a 
lime-clay plaster has been applied over the clay.  putting Like-to LIKE 
is the best use.

Remember cement just COATS the particles of sand, but  lime combines at 
the  base molecular level and stays that way.

Charmaine  << I just acquired a ton of broken marble taken from a  
fancy shower display at a local tile store, and I plan  to use noting 
but lime mortar for the grout and mastic in my Work Studio.  taking the 
very expensive!!, and free  marble and making a floor over an old  
bumpy slab, is a dream come true for me...  It will be a lot of heavy 
work-- the mabrle weighs a ton but is gorgeous) and I will be able to 
use the piles of tossed out smaller broken black and green, brownj &  
tan marble I have been collectng to cover the 14 x 20 floor--- finally!

> David Sheen has a picture on his website of a shower with inlaid tile. 
>  I
> think he wrote that it was inlaid in lime plaster.  He's rearranged the
> site since I looked at the picture, so I can't send you the link, but 
> you
> could Google his name and cob, or anarchitecture.

Check 'em out.  Gorgeous stuff.
http://www.ilovecob.com/ashan/cascadiacob2005/cob2k502.htm
http://www.ilovecob.com/ashan/cascadiacob2005/cob2k501.htm
http://www.ilovecob.com/ashan/cascadiacob2005/cob2k503.htm

Charmaine Taylor Publishing
www.dirtcheapbuilder.com
PO BOX 375 CUTTEN CA 95534  USA
Tel:  707-441-1632
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